Page 90 of Trade Deadline

We’d always wanted a dog growing up, but our mom constantly refused, saying she didn’t want anything distracting us from hockey. Now, with my schedule being so hectic, it’d be cruel and unfair for me to get one, only to end up having to put it into doggy daycare every time I go on the road.

“Also, I must remind you that we will be filming everything, so please be mindful and use respectful language so we don’t have an entire episode of beeps.”

Oh, this is going to be so much fun.

We head downstairs and board a waiting bus that takes us forty minutes north of Chicago to an old, derelict school that’s apparently been converted.

“Before we head inside, I’m going to draw names from an online generator to assign your teams,” Colleen announces, retrieving her iPad from her bag. I get the dream team: Ethan, Mitch, Zach, and Elliot.

I high-five Zach and throw my arm around Elliot’s shoulders. “We’re gonna get the fucking dog!”

“I wanna call it Bruce!” Elliot slaps my stomach.

I let out an oof and rub my hand over the spot. “Bruce?”

“Yeah! Like Bruce Wayne, duh!” He rolls his eyes.

“But he hasn’t got anything to do with Thunder. Surely we should call it something like…”

“Thor,” Zach chimes in.

I point finger guns at the d-man. “Yeah!”

Ethan shakes his head. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll worry about naming the dog once we’ve won the damn thing.”

“Okay, mister sensible.” Elliot mimics.

We’re directed to the room we’ll be escaping from. It’s done up like a prison cell, except much nicer than the ones you see on TV. There’s carpet on the floors, several photos on the walls, a cabinet, desk, toilet, and sink, and a bed in the far corner of the room. It’s dark, meaning it’s hard to see, and given that there are five of us in here, the room suddenly feels very small.

“The previous inmate planned his escape but was moved to a high-security prison yesterday. It’s now up to you to escape within sixty minutes using the clues he's left inside the cell. There are several padlocks to unlock, which will lead you to further clues,” the instructor explains. “If you need to get out at any point, wave at the camera, and I'll come get you. But once you're out, you cannot re-enter.”

We all nod when he asks if we’re ready to start, and the second the door locks, the lights go out and we’re in complete darkness.

“Oh shit, I don’t think I like this,” Elliot mumbles beside me. I can sense he’s fidgeting, and ends up bumping into me. He lets out a loud shriek. “Fuck’s sake, Blaine, are you trying to kill me?”

“I didn’t do anything! I was just standing here!” I argue back.

“Fuck, I just swore,” I hear him slap his forehead. “Fuck, shit! Colleen, I’m sorry!” He shouts then mutters under his breath that Colleen is going to kill him.

I roll my lips, trying to stop myself from bursting into laughter.

“Shut it, Olsen,” Ethan grumbles as the TV flickers on in the corner.

Oh man, here we go.

It seems like a long time before we manage to get the keys we need to get out of here, only to find out we still need to go through a tunnel.

“You can go in first.” Zach playfully shoves me. “You're smaller than me.”

I peek my head into the tunnel. It’s fucking narrow. I have no idea how we’re going to fit.

“We’re gonna have to go on our hands and knees and crawl.” I nudge Mitch forward. “It’s your time to shine, rookie.”

He lets out a defeated sigh, dropping down to crawl through it, and comes back with a piece of paper with an L and an A written on it, with some lines underneath.

Ethan takes over. “There’s a theory behind this.”

He explains how the number of lines equals where the letters are in the alphabet, then points to where similar marks are etched into the wall. “So up there you have A, C, E, and R.”

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